Rants Tagged with “Games”
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I've had my 360 for a couple weeks now so I wanted to give out some mini-reviews of some of the games I've played so far:
Excellent racing game. Not quite the racing sim that Forza was, but easy to pickup and play.
Pros: I love the variety of tracks and cars. Views from inside every car in game. Nothing in the game that can't do 170 MPH. Best looking 360 game so far.
Cons: The 'career' is a bit short, but there is still lots to love. Load times can be tedious. Better looking but not as good as PGR2.
Result: A-
Another excellent racing game. Story mode is interesting and engaging.
Pros: Getting rep by getting chased by the police is the reason to buy the game. Story keeps you playing. Cars very easy to handle. Can drive around city and lots of variety of views.
Cons: Graphics good, but not great. Weather effects can cause it to be a bit choppy. Dumbed-down tweaking of vehicles is silly.
Result: B
Fun little shooter. Story is interesting, but light.
Pros: Nice mix of weapons and gadgets. Taking cover is fun in big shootouts.
Cons: Just another shooter. Stealth is half-baked. Tutorial missions are not much of a tutorial as they are a controller introduction.
Result: B-
Great little old-school shooter.
Pros: Addictive. Beautiful to look at. Best price/fun ratio on the machine.
Cons: Doesn't save machine high scores in between games.
Result: A
Interesting old-west shooter. Engaging story.
Pros: Fun to ride horses and shoot up the old west. Great voice acting, especially Kris Kristopherson.
Cons: Direct port from PS2, which means graphics are mediocre at best. Problems with smoke and overall lighting making some missions almost impossible to complete.
Result: C-
I've spent my first day with my XBox 360. Overall I really like the unit. Well made and no overheating problems for me.
Here is what I liked:
- The included wireless controller is very responsive and I like the XBox button. The light around the XBox button on the controller signifies which controller you are.
- You can finally turn the XBox on and off without having to push a button on the box itself. Pushing the XBox button turns the unit on, and a menu item on the dashboard let you turn it off.
- Graphics are incredible. I only have Project Gotham Racing 3, but it looks amazing. Even my XBox games look better since I can play them in 1080 HD.
- XBox Marketplace is an interesting idea to allow the XBox to do things the PC can already do (like download demos and movies).
- I purchased Geometry Wars (~5 USD) and it has earned all the kudo's. Amazing amount of fun.
- XBox Wireless Network Adapter worked flawlessly out of the box and it attaches to the console very cleanly.
- XBox Live integration from the ground up is fantastic. I love that all games must contribute to my Live experience.
- The controller allowing me to do voice chat while wireless is great too.
- I really like that I can go back and forth from the game to the XBox dashboard easily by hitting the "XBox" button on the controller. Sweet.
Needs improvement:
- I ended up getting an XBox Wireless Network Adapter because the USB network adapters and Ethernet bridges all failed to work with the unit. In truth, wireless should have been built into the box.
- Being able to listen to music I have on my network machines is a great idea, but it requires XP. I have my MP3 collection on a Windows 2003 box and Windows Media Connect will not install at all (something about no UPnP). Unacceptable IMHO.
- Media Center Extender in the box is another good idea, but the picture is unacceptable with 802.11G. So a central game/tv experience is not possibly unless I hardwire or go to 802.11A.
- The extender software is trying to be helpful I am sure, but when I go to use the music on the extender, it looks like it is skipping the music registered on my MCE and trying to attach to the data directly. Because of the Media Connect not working with W2K3, this is a no go. So no way to play my music (none of it is DRM'd...all MP3) on my XBox. BIG DISAPPOINTMENT.
- The controller has four shoulder buttons. They have essentially moved the black and white buttons to shoulder buttons. Great idea. This incarnation of the controller is a bit too small for my Shrek-sized hands. I keep hitting the second shoulder button accidently. I expect Logitech to come out with a replacement that is superior (I use a Logitech XBox wireless controller for my XBox 'classic')
Overall, I give it a big thumbs up as a gaming machine. It achieves the next-gen performance and fixes most of my complaints about the XBox "classic". If you can find one, pick it up.
Ok, I'll admit it...I went the EBay route to get my hands on a 360, but so far it is really worth it. I'll post a more formal review after I get my Gamerscore past zero.
Anyone remember this exceptional board game from the 80's? I just bought a copy on E-Bay and I am so excited to play it again. If you remember it, please reply with what you remember about it...
I had planned to go to a midnight store opening and purchase a machine this evening, but both stores I could find were already sold out (though they wouldn't explain how they sold out of an item that can't sell yet, since they weren't taking pre-orders). I then spoke to CompUSA and was told that it is first come-first serve, but they were only selling it as a kit that included extra controllers, 2 games and their extended service plan (at $699). Bah, another reason to hate CompUSA.
If I find one tomorrow, i'll blog about it...but its looking scary.
For just today (November 10th), you can register to win entry to the XBox 360 Launch Party. You have to pay your own way to get to the undisclosed location (out west is almost guaranteed), but two days of playing the XBox 360 before the world gets it and a way to buy it if you failed to pre-order (like I did). Hope to see you there!
0x168 == 360
Nuff said...November will be a fun month if I can carve out $399 I am not using...
Here is some very impressive movie footage (20 minutes worth) of The Elder Scrolls IV game coming out in December. About eight minutes in, the footage of the dynamic forests are some of the best graphics I have ever seen...excellent.
I downloaded the 2.0 update for my PSP and I am writing this rant with it. It includes JavaScript support and tabbed browsing! Very cool...
Check out this interview with Chris Donahue, the group manager for Windows gaming and graphics. He talks about DirectX's 10th aniversary, the Nvidia/ATI feud and what it means to PC Gamers, XNA and XBox 360. Give it a read...
